1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for issuing portable storage mediums containing memory, such as IC cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, IC cards containing an IC chip with a nonvolatile data memory and a CPU (central processing unit) to control the memory have been widely used in various industries as portable storage mediums.
IC cards of this type are usually issued at a card issuing company using an IC card issuing machine. A general card issuing procedure comprises writing the issue data onto the specified cards in the order of entry on the basis of the issue data for issuing cards previously entered in the issuing machine. Then the cards are issued in sequence.
With the IC card issuing machine, when the issue data is written into the data memory of an IC card (card issuing), the IC card is issued on the basis of the issue data to issue cards entered in the issuing machine. For example, to issue only part of a large number of registered cards, it is necessary to select the desired issue data items randomly from the large number of issue data items entered in the issuing machine and issue the IC cards. In the prior art, the desired issue data item has had to be separately retrieved for each IC card prior to issuance of each card. Accordingly, this lengthens the issuing time and renders the process much less efficient.